One of Andy Warhol’s final works could raise £60,000 when it is auctioned tomorrow.
The copy of the American pop artist’s 1985 portrait of the Queen is based on another portrait created for the 1977 Silver Jubilee. It is part of a series called Reigning Queens which also included images of the Queens of Denmark, the Netherlands and Swaziland.
The signed and numbered work was Warhol’s last print-portrait before his death in 1987.
It is estimated to fetch between £40,000 and £60,000.
Off with the burden – pledge honoured
A man who pledged to make the last mortgage payment on his home with pennies has kept his word.
After warning his bank, Thomas Daigle dropped off about 62,000 pennies (one cent coins) weighing 360 kilos in two boxes for the final payment on the home he and his wife bought in 1977, in Milford, Massachusetts, USA.
He said he just wanted to make his last payment on April 24 “memorable” and started saving his pennies when he moved in.
The optician says his wife laughed whenever he picked up a penny he found on the ground and say it was going to the mortgage.
He said he was just glad to have the coins out of his house.
Filthy rich on the road - survey
Well-off motorists tend to drive around in dirtier cars, according to an AA/Populus survey.
Only six per cent of car owners from professional and managerial backgrounds wash their vehicle once a week, compared with 8.5 per cent for lower-income owners. The gap widens among those who clean their car twice a week, with 16 per cent of lower-income owners washing their vehicle fortnightly, but only 11.5 per cent of wealthier owners do so.
Animal rescues 60% increase in six years
A fire service has released an array of bizarre animal rescues including an iguana stuck on a roof, a hamster trapped in a lift - and even a chimp wedged in a chimney.
London Fire Brigade is concerned that it is having to deal with a rising number of animal rescues, with crews called out on average every 14 hours to deal with a creature in trouble last year.
Fire crews in the capital had to rescue 620 animals last year, a 60 per cent increase over six years, and have already had to deal with more calls in the first half of this year than the same period in 2011, prompting them to advise animal owners to contact the RSPCA.
Pulls gun on opponent in life TV talk show
A Jordanian politician faces charges of attempted murder after pulling a gun on his opponent in a live TV talk show, a prosecutor said.
Mohammed Shawabka pointed his weapon at Mansour Seif-Eddine Murad after the ex-deputy called him a “mafia thief”. The two men were debating Syria’s uprising on the private Jordanian Josat satellite station.
Mr Shawabka accused Mr Murad of being a “spy” for Syrian president Bashar Assad’s regime. He first threw his shoe at Mr Murad and then pulled out a pistol, but no shots were fired.
Vintage Volvo P1800S keeps going
It just keeps going, and going, and going. No, it is not a battery. It is Irvin Gordon’s 1966 Volvo P1800S.
Mr Gordon’s small, red two-door has well over two million miles on the odometer, the equivalent of nearly 1,176 times across the globe. The 72-year-old bought the car on June 30, 1966, for $4,150 at the age of 25.
“It was a whole year’s salary,” he said.